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Demon (episode)
Voyager, desperately low on fuel, finds deuterium on a highly hostile "Demon class" planet. Summary Teaser The is running out of deuterium as a fuel and is forced to go into Gray mode. Lieutenant jg Tom Paris estimates that they have less than a week's worth of deuterium left, even if they travel at one-quarter impulse. Captain Kathryn Janeway orders Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and Cmdr. Chakotay to brainstorm energy conservation methods while she and Ensign Harry Kim try to synthesize an alternate fuel in the Geophysics lab. Paris jokingly suggests they attach a generator to a bicycle in the mess hall and volunteers Kim to take the first shift. Tuvok evacuates the crew from crew quarters and instructs them to bring only essential personal items, in the interest of conserving space. He confiscates Neelix's copy of the Selected Works of Jirex as well as his pillows and blankets, which Neelix claims he needs because Starfleet bedding gives him neck pains and a rash. Tuvok tells Neelix to ask The Doctor for an anti-inflammatory and some anti-itch cream and Neelix grumbles that he might as well sleep in sickbay...and then thanks Tuvok for giving him an idea. Seven of Nine is still working in astrometrics despite having been ordered to shut down the lab an hour ago, due to lack of power. Chakotay tells her that this is inefficient but Seven counters that efficiency is relative, since she has discovered a planetoid rich in deuterium, which conventional scanners would not have detected. Chakotay identifies the planetoid as Demon class, too toxic and volatile to even enter a standard orbit. Seven responds by telling him that they are desperate and need the deuterium no matter what they have to do. Act One :"Captain's log, supplemental. I've ordered adaptations to our shields to repel the thermionic discharges. Hoping that the benefits will outweigh the risks, we're now trying to beam deuterium from beneath the planet's surface." Seven and Ensign Kashimuro Nozawa try to transport deuterium from the planet but the pattern buffers overload, causing an explosion and taking the transporters offline. Tuvok estimates that if they tried to send a probe to collect the deuterium, it would incinerate upon entering the atmosphere and Janeway, discouraged and out of options, orders Paris to resume their previous course at one-quarter impulse. Kim suggests taking a modified shuttle to the surface and mining the deuterium from there. Tuvok and Janeway object that the planetoid's atmosphere could kill him within minutes if his environmental suit corroded and that they wouldn't be able to communicate with him or transport him off the surface until the transporters were repaired. Kim says he knows the risks and volunteers Paris to join him. After the meeting, Paris remarks on Kim's sudden attitude change. Kim says that he has realized that with all the experience he has accumulated on Voyager in the past four years, he has no reason to act "green" anymore or to be afraid to voice his opinions. Paris asks Kim to leave him out of it the next time he decides to assert himself, because he hates hot weather. Kim and Paris land their shuttle on the planet's surface and search for the deuterium. They find a cavern with a pool of thick, metallic liquid, packed with deuterium, with other pools nearby. Paris goes to check out another one while Kim collects samples. Paris jokes about setting up some lounge chairs and a beach umbrella and having a nice vacation, and realizes that Kim isn't responding to him. He returns to the pool and finds that Kim has fallen in – Kim says he felt like he was pulled in. The computer in Kim's environmental suit warns him that a seal has been compromised and he will be deprived of oxygen in thirty seconds. As Paris tries to get him back to the shuttle, his suit also breaches. They collapse on the planet's surface. Act Two The Doctor is not happy that Neelix and a few other officers are trying to set up makeshift quarters in sickbay. He calls Chakotay down to complain but he is unsympathetic and threatens to shut down the Doctor's program to save power. The Doctor grudgingly tells Neelix and his friends to make themselves at home. On the bridge, Janeway and Tuvok are trying to scan for Paris and Kim, who haven't returned from the surface. Janeway isn't willing to risk sending down another shuttle and sees no alternative but to land the ship. The landing severely damages many of the ship's systems. Janeway orders repair crews sent out and sends Chakotay to look for Paris and Kim. Lt. jg B'Elanna Torres tries to get Chakotay to take her along on the search and rescue mission but Chakotay tells her that he needs cool heads and that she's too personally involved. She asks him to take Seven instead. In sickbay, Neelix tries to sleep while The Doctor noisily goes about his routine. After he threatens to start a sing-along, The Doctor allows him to turn off the lights. On the surface, Chakotay and Seven find Paris and Kim's shuttle, unoccupied. Their tricorders don't pick up any life signs, so they follow the footprints instead. They find Paris inside the cavern with the pools of liquid, without his environmental suit. Act Three Paris tells Chakotay and Seven that after he and Kim passed out, they woke up able to breathe the planet's air. He invites Chakotay and Seven to take off their helmets and try it but Chakotay isn't willing to take any risks. They go to find Kim, who is further inside the cavern. In engineering, Torres and Ensign Vorik try to keep Voyager's systems running. Vorik estimates that the transporters will be repaired within an hour but that life support will fail in two hours. Seven and Chakotay find Kim in the cavern. He and Paris have already collected twenty kilos of deuterium and Kim is eager to stay on the planet and keep working but Chakotay insists on returning to Voyager. The Doctor happily ejects Neelix and his other unwanted guests from sickbay to make room for Paris and Kim. The away team is beamed aboard but Paris and Kim start to suffocate when they materialize in the transporter room. Janeway orders them beamed to sickbay, where the Doctor establishes a force field around two of the biobeds and fills it with the planet's atmosphere so that Paris and Kim can breathe. :"Captain's log, supplemental. The Doctor continues to investigate Tom and Harry, whose condition seems as serious as it is strange." In sickbay, The Doctor has found a silver fluid in Paris and Kim's blood and supposes that they have been "bioformed" to survive on the demon planet. The Doctor doesn't know how to reverse the process and Voyager can't safely replicate the planet's atmosphere, which means that if Paris and Kim's condition can't be treated, they will have to be left behind when Voyager leaves. Act Four Janeway sends Chakotay and Seven back to the surface for more information and Kim volunteers to help them while Paris stays on the ship to play guinea pig for The Doctor. On the surface, Seven finds the planetoid decidedly unappealing but Kim calls it "breathtaking". Where Seven sees monochromatic rocks and dust, Kim sees "a dozen shades of red and gold" and says that he feels connected to the planet. Seven's tricorder detects humanoid life signs. In Voyager's science lab, Janeway and Torres analyze the silver fluid. They discover that it has organic properties. Suddenly, the sample oozes onto Torres' thumb and duplicates it. A pool of the silver fluid forms underneath the ship and begins to sink Voyager. Janeway orders an emergency ascent and Tuvok contacts the away team to beam them back. They tell him that their party now has five members, they have found another Paris and Kim unconscious on the surface. Janeway has them beamed directly to sickbay as a group using a wide transporter beam but Kim doesn't want to leave the planet and runs away. Janeway and Tuvok try to get Voyager back into orbit but the ship is being restrained by an electromagnetic force. When they try to compensate, the thrusters overload and go offline. Act Five Janeway calls engineering and Vorik answers that Torres is already working on repairing the thrusters but it will take at least half an hour. Janeway checks on Paris and Kim in sickbay while Tuvok tries to disperse the fluid beneath the ship. The Doctor resuscitates the real Paris and Kim and Janeway offers an explanation: the silver fluid has mimetic properties. It sampled Paris and Kim's DNA and created duplicates with identical memories and personalities but with the ability to survive on the planet. She asks the duplicate Paris for information but he doesn't know anything and only wants to go back to the planet. Tuvok tries to disperse the silver fluid with a nadion burst and the duplicate Kim hails Janeway from the surface and begs her to stop. Janeway orders the duplicate Kim beamed aboard. The duplicate Kim explains that the "silver blood" is alive and has experienced sentience for the first time after duplicating Paris and Kim. The silver blood wants to duplicate the rest of Voyager's crew and populate the planet. Janeway gets the duplicate Kim to release the ship on the condition that she allows any willing crew members to be duplicated before they leave. Voyager is finally able to lift off and the silver blood duplicates watch them go. Memorable Quotes "Anybody's got any other ideas, I'm listening." "We could set up a bicycle in the Mess Hall, attach a generator; pedal home?" "Now why didn't I think of that?" "...and I volunteer Harry to take the first shift!" : - Janeway, Kim and Paris "Efficiency is relative, Commander." : - Seven of Nine "This is a sickbay, not a dormitory!" : - The Doctor to Neelix "I think we're through the worst of it! Almost!" : - Chakotay "Apparently he has adapted." : - Seven of Nine, referring to Tom Paris' ability to breathe the planet's atmosphere "Lieutenant." "Yes." "We should have transporters back online within the hour." "Well, that's great, but right now I'm more concerned with little things like, oh, I don't know, say, life support?" "Indeed. According to my calculations, environmental systems will cease to function in two hours." "You say that like you're giving me the weather report." : - Vorik and Torres "Status?" "I could give you a litany of damaged systems, Captain, but suffice it to say, now that we're down, we won't be going up again soon.''" : - '''Janeway and Tuvok right after landing Voyager on the planet Background Information *This episode takes place ten months and eleven days before the events in the episode (stardate 52586.3). *This is the first episode in which Roxann Dawson appears as B'Elanna Torres since she went into labor during the shooting of ; subsequently, it is also the first time in season four that Dawson was shown on screen from the neck down (a trick to hide her pregnancy). The only exception to this was during when she is shown in a holodeck simulation as a French resistance fighter who is pregnant with a German officer's child. However, she would wear the jacket she wore to hide her pregnancy since to the end of the season to keep up the continuity. *The idea of crewmembers having their respiratory (and other) systems altered to require a radically different environment — what The Doctor calls here "bioforming" — was earlier explored in . However, the two episodes have significant plot differences. *This is the first episode which features Voyager operating in "Gray Mode" to conserve energy. "Gray Mode" would be seen again in the Season 5 episode . Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 4.12, catalogue number VHR 4633, . *As part of the VOY Season 4 DVD collection. Links and references Starring *Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway Also starring *Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay *Roxann Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres *Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris *Ethan Phillips as Neelix *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok *Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine *Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim Guest Star *Alexander Enberg as Vorik Co-Stars *Susan Lewis as a Transporter technician *Majel Barrett as the USS Voyager computer voice Uncredited Co-Stars * Marvin deBaca as Timothy Lang * Tarik Ergin as Ayala * John Tampoya as Kashimuro Nozawa References annular confinement beam; anti-grav thruster; anti-inflammatory; bicycle; biobed; bioforming; biomimetic lifeform; blue alert; containment field; class Y planet; dermalplast; deuterium; dichromate; DNA; flophouse; fluorescent; gasoline; gray mode; hydrogen sulfate; Jirex; kelvin; Klingon opera; mobile transporter; nacelle; nadion; pattern buffer; plasma; plasma manifold; probe; protein; Puccini; Silver Blood; sodium chloride; Talaxian rondo; Selected Works of Jirex; thermionic radiation; Vulcan funeral dirge |next= }} de:Dämon es:Demon fr:Demon (épisode) nl:Demon Category:VOY episodes